The Scariest Lie Christians Believe About Heaven | R.c. Sproul Sermons

0:00Well, this morning we're going to

0:01continue our study of the Gospel

0:03according to St. Luke. We're still in

0:05the seventh chapter. And today I will be

0:08reading from verse 18 through verse 35.

0:13And it will only be through the grace of

0:15God that I'll be able to cover all of

0:17that in the sermon. That remains to be

0:20seen how gracious the Lord is pleased to

0:22be.

0:24Then the disciples of John reported to

0:27him concerning all these things. And

0:30John calling two of his disciples to

0:32him, sent them to Jesus, saying,

0:35"Are you the coming one,

0:38or do we look for another?"

0:42When the men had come to him, they said,

0:43"John the Baptist has sent us to you,

0:46saying, Are you the coming one, or do we

0:48look for another?" And that very hour he

0:52cured many of infirmities, afflictions,

0:54and evil spirits,

0:56and to many blind

0:58he gave sight.

1:00Jesus answered and said to them, "Go and

1:02tell John the things you have seen and

1:04heard,

1:06that the blind see,

1:08the lame walk,

1:11the lepers are cleansed,

1:13the deaf hear, the dead are raised, the

1:17poor have the gospel preached to them.

1:21And blessed is he who is not offended

1:26because of me."

1:29When the messengers of John had

1:30departed, he began to speak to the

1:32multitudes concerning John.

1:35What did you go out into the wilderness

1:37to see?

1:39A reed shaken by the wind.

1:43What did you go out to see? A man

1:44clothed in soft garments.

1:48Indeed, those who are gorgeously apparel

1:50and live in luxury are in king's courts.

1:56And what did you go out to see? A

1:57prophet? Yes, I say to you,

2:01and more than a prophet, and this is he

2:04of whom it is written, "Behold, I send

2:07my messenger before your face, who will

2:10prepare your way before you. For I say

2:13to you, among those born of women, there

2:15is not a greater prophet than John the

2:17Baptist,

2:20but he who is least in the kingdom of

2:22God

2:24is greater than he."

2:27And when all the people heard him, even

2:29the tax collectors justified God, having

2:32been baptized with the baptism of John.

2:36But the Pharisees and lawyers rejected

2:38the will of God for themselves, not

2:40having been baptized by him.

2:44And the Lord said to, "What then shall I

2:46liken the men of this generation?

2:48What are they like?

2:50They're like children sitting in the

2:52marketplace and calling one to another,

2:55saying, "We've played the flute for you,

2:56and you did not dance. We mourned to

2:58you, and you did not weep.

3:03For John the Baptist came neither eating

3:05bread nor drinking wine, and you say he

3:07has a demon.

3:09The Son of Man has come eating and

3:11drinking, and you say, "Look, a glutton

3:13and a wine bber, a friend of tax

3:15collectors and sinners."

3:18But wisdom is justified

3:21by all her children.

3:25Again, we've had the unspeakable

3:27privilege this morning to hear a word

3:29from God himself. For this is his word

3:33superintended and inspired by God the

3:35Holy Spirit for our instruction and our

3:38edification and for our sanctification.

3:42Please receive it as such.

3:45Let's pray

3:48again. Oh Lord, we look to you as the

3:50fountain of all truth

3:53to help us understand your truth

3:57to embrace your truth,

4:00to love your truth,

4:03and to obey your truth.

4:07For we ask it in Jesus' name.

4:10Amen.

4:12When last we looked at

4:15Luke's gospel, we considered the raising

4:20from the dead of the son of the widow of

4:22Naine.

4:24And we read at the end of that episode

4:27that

4:29the people glorified God saying, "A

4:31great prophet has risen among us and God

4:33has visited his people."

4:37And as a result of this astonishing act

4:40of raising one from the dead, the

4:42reputation of Jesus swelled throughout

4:45the land and reports were carried

4:48everywhere.

4:49Obviously, one of the places

4:52where that report had been carried was

4:55to a dungeon 5 miles from the Dead Sea

5:03where John the Baptist had been

5:05incarcerated

5:07for daring to critique publicly the

5:10morality

5:11of the king. and John was languishing

5:16in prison. At the same time, the

5:19popularity of Jesus was on the rise

5:24among the populace.

5:26And obviously, John was confused. He's

5:30hearing all the great things that Jesus

5:32had done.

5:34And while Jesus is doing these great

5:36things,

5:38John

5:41is in prison.

5:44and he's wondering about this.

5:46Now, there are those commentators who

5:49assume that the reason why John the

5:52Baptist sent messengers to Jesus with

5:54the question, are you the one who is to

5:57come or should we look for another say

6:00that well John had not been shaken in

6:02his confidence? After all, he was a

6:05prophet.

6:07And he was simply having his disciples

6:10go and ask Jesus this question for their

6:13sakes to confirm their faith. For John

6:19was going to transfer the allegiance of

6:21his disciples to Jesus.

6:25But I think that's a stretch of biblical

6:28interpretation. I think we have to go

6:30with what the text says itself. It's

6:32John who asks a question and the reply

6:35that Jesus gives is not simply for the

6:37benefit of his disciples but Jesus says

6:40you go and tell John.

6:42So Jesus is obviously

6:45receiving this question as it comes from

6:47John and he gives the response

6:52to John.

6:54Why should be a strange thing for us to

6:57imagine

6:58that John might actually be having

7:00second thoughts.

7:02He had gone on public record

7:06proclaiming Jesus as the one who was to

7:08come, the lamb of God who would take

7:11away their sins. The one who would be

7:14greater than John the Baptist. The one

7:17who baptized Jesus in the River Jordan.

7:20He had made this public proclamation

7:24of the person of Jesus and whatever his

7:29personal expectations were of Jesus as

7:33of yet to this date obviously

7:37they were not fulfilled. Is it

7:40impossible for a prophet of God to go

7:43through a dark night of the soul, a time

7:46of doubt?

7:48Not if we consider the prophets of the

7:50Old Testament like Jeremiah who was

7:53clearly ready to turn in his prophets

7:55card when he had had enough of the

7:57derision heaped upon him by the people

8:01saying your word has become a reproach

8:03to me. I'm in derision daily. I will

8:07speak no more in your name.

8:09Or Elijah crying out

8:13I I alone have left. Or consider Jonah

8:20who boarded a ship to escape the

8:23responsibilities of the word of prophecy

8:26that God had given to him. We could go

8:29on for a long period of time citing

8:32examples of the real humanity of the

8:35prophets of God in the Old Testament who

8:38just like everybody else in times of

8:41distress and in times of trouble had

8:44moments of doubt and confusion.

8:50And John, every day as he languishes in

8:52this horrible dungeon,

8:55has to be wondering,

8:58"Where's Jesus?

9:01Did I make a mistake?

9:03Did I proclaim the wrong one

9:07to be the lamb of God?" And so it he

9:11can't stand it anymore the more these

9:14reports that he hears. And so finally he

9:16sends two of his disciples to Jesus to

9:19ask him tell us are you the one

9:23or we should we look for another before

9:26we look at Jesus' response of this

9:30let me just have a a word of application

9:34do you know how many millions of

9:37millions and millions of people

9:41who are on this planet today and even in

9:44our own country

9:46who were not persuaded

9:49that Jesus was the one.

9:52The whole Jewish nation is still waiting

9:54for the Messiah having rejected

9:58Jesus

10:00and being convinced that he was not the

10:03one who was to come. Every Muslim on

10:06this planet believes that Jesus

10:09ultimately was not the one who was to

10:10come. And there are others who are

10:12looking for a hero there, a heroine

10:14there,

10:16anybody that could fulfill the role of

10:19the rescuer, the deliverer, the savior

10:25who are not satisfied

10:28with Jesus. And then there are many,

10:31many millions of people who believe that

10:34Jesus was one of the ones who was to

10:37come.

10:39but by no means the only one. They will

10:44acknowledge that Jesus is one way to

10:46God,

10:48but will shrink in a horror at the

10:50suggestion that he's the only way to

10:53God.

10:55I can't think of any proclamation or

10:59profession

11:00more repugnant

11:02to a secular culture

11:05than the proclamation that there's only

11:07one way to God. And that one way is

11:11Jesus. I'm sure with the number of

11:13people that are in this room this

11:14morning, there must be many of us in

11:16this very room today

11:19who believe and have said, "Oh, I think

11:21there are many ways to God."

11:24If there are, then it's likely that

11:26Jesus isn't one of them.

11:30Because Jesus said he was the only one.

11:32And the word of God says he's the only

11:34one. The word of God says one mediator

11:38between God and man.

11:40There's only one who's given an

11:42atonement.

11:44And if you think that God is stingy and

11:47lacking in grace by restricting it to

11:51one way, you need to ask yourself the

11:53question, why is there any way?

11:56What have we done that would merit God's

12:02being moved to provide any way of

12:05salvation?

12:07But in his glorious grace,

12:11he has given to us

12:13the monogan,

12:16the only begotten of the father.

12:22And let me say this.

12:25If you're not willing to stand for that,

12:27it may very well be that you're an

12:30unregenerate person.

12:33This is where the rubber meets the road.

12:35This is where your loyalty to Christ

12:39comes to the test. Are you going to

12:42please men and bow to political

12:45correctness in a pluralistic and

12:47relativistic culture? Or are you really

12:50persuaded

12:52that Jesus Christ is God's only son?

12:57The only one to have provided atonement

12:59for our sins. The only one whom God

13:03raised from the dead. The one whom God

13:05has appointed him as judge and has

13:08appointed a day by which he will judge

13:11the whole world by Jesus. Not by

13:13Muhammad, not by Confucious,

13:16not by Gautama Buddha.

13:19Buddha's dead.

13:22Muhammad's dead.

13:24Confucious is dead.

13:26And only Jesus

13:29has been raised

13:31and elevated to the right hand of God

13:33the Father where he sits right now as

13:35the King of the Kings and the Lord of

13:37the Lords.

13:40But maybe you're thinking,

13:42"God hasn't done enough

13:45sending his son to pay the price for

13:48every sin that you've ever committed.

13:51That God hasn't done enough to raise his

13:53son for your justification

13:56and raised him as the firstborn from the

13:58dead. That because of him, if you put

14:01your trust in him, you will live forever

14:03and ever and ever without a tear,

14:06without a pain.

14:09it's not enough for you. If that's not

14:12enough,

14:14then I do suggest to you

14:17that you look for another.

14:20But such a suggestion

14:22is to suggest that you go on a fool's

14:25errand

14:27because there isn't another

14:29who can do what Jesus has done for you.

14:36And this is where you need to be able to

14:38be prepared

14:40to stand in the face of all the

14:43hostility

14:45of the world

14:47out of loyalty

14:50to your savior.

14:52Consider Polycarp in his late 80s when

14:55he was arrested

14:58and taken into the arena, the coliseum,

15:02where the lions were waiting to feast

15:04upon his body. And even the emperor did

15:08not want to be so harsh on this man in

15:12his old age. And he said, "You don't

15:15have to die, Polycarp. All you have to

15:17do is say away with the atheists,

15:21meaning the Christians,

15:23and you will live.

15:26And so he said,

15:29"For over 80 years, my Lord has

15:31sustained me.

15:33You think I'm going to deny him now, but

15:36if all you want me to say is away with

15:38the atheists, I'll do that." And he

15:39looked at the crowd, to the Romans, and

15:43he said, "Away with the atheists.

15:46if they

15:48were the atheists.

15:50Is there a polycarp in the room today?

15:55Are those here willing to say,

15:59"Yay, he is the one,

16:02the only one and the one I will die

16:05for." But the question came

16:09from John the Baptist of all people.

16:13Jesus, are you the one

16:17or should we look for another?

16:20Now, Jesus

16:22is not angry at that question.

16:25He's patient with that question. But I

16:28love the way he answers that question.

16:31Jesus said to them,

16:33"Go tell John the things that you have

16:36seen and heard.

16:38Go tell John

16:40that the blind see.

16:43The lame are walking. The lepers are

16:46cleansed.

16:48The deaf hear.

16:50The dead are raised.

16:53And don't forget to tell him this. Above

16:56all else,

16:58the poor

17:00are having the gospel

17:03preached to them.

17:07Why was it so important? The thing that

17:09would create such a marvel in the land

17:11was to see people who had been blind

17:13from their birth having their eyes open

17:15and they could see the lame leaping for

17:18joy. The deaf hearing,

17:22the dead raised.

17:26That's a big deal.

17:29He says, "You go tell John what you've

17:31seen."

17:33But don't forget to tell him, "The poor

17:36have the gospel preached to them." Why

17:39was that included?

17:42I think it's clear. It's no mystery. Is

17:45not the agenda set in Isaiah 61 for the

17:48Lord's anointed, the Messiah?

17:51Behold, the spirit of the Lord is upon

17:53me to preach good news to the poor,

17:57deliverance to the captives, and so on.

18:00The job description

18:03for the Lord's anointed, for the Messiah

18:05set forth in ancient prophecy, Jesus is

18:08saying, John, go read your Bible.

18:14Read Isaiah 61.

18:18And you'll get the answer to your

18:19question.

18:21whether you should look for somebody

18:24else because nobody else

18:28was fulfilling the prophetic

18:31description of the Messiah like Jesus.

18:36Jesus added, "And blessed is he

18:40who's not offended because of me." Don't

18:42want to leave that out.

18:45That's a very important beatitude.

18:48Why is it that professing Christians

18:52are so reluctant to say Jesus is the

18:56only way? We know how the world thinks

18:59about that. We know they can't stand to

19:01hear that. We know that that is utterly

19:04offensive to them.

19:07And so what do we do? We want to flee

19:10from the offense.

19:12And we want to say to them,"Well,

19:14Christianity is right for me, but

19:17whatever you believe, that's fine for

19:20you. You pray to your God and I'll pray

19:23to mine, and we'll all be happy together

19:27in hell."

19:29Jesus pronounced his benediction on the

19:33believer

19:34who's not offended by him.

19:38What a strange thing that our Lord would

19:41have to give a benediction on people who

19:45say they believe in him who are not

19:47offended by him.

19:50How can you be offended by your savior?

19:54How can you be offended

19:57by the incarnate word of God?

20:00People come to me all the time with

20:02things that they read in the scriptures

20:04that they don't like. And I say it's

20:06wonderful for you if you can find things

20:08in the Bible that you don't like. If

20:11when you're reading something in the

20:12Bible and you don't like it, put a big

20:15mark next to it and go through and just

20:19wait for a minute. Keep keep read

20:20through the whole Bible and every time

20:22you see something you don't like, put a

20:24mark next to it and then go back and

20:27concentrate your study on the places

20:30where you've placed the marks.

20:33Because if you want a quick way to

20:37sanctification,

20:38that's it.

20:40Because if you find something in the

20:42Bible you don't like,

20:44it means one of two things. Either A,

20:46you don't understand the text and you

20:48need to study it more thoroughly until

20:51the problem is resolved.

20:53Or B, if after you study it more

20:55thoroughly and you come to the

20:56conclusion, yes, your interpretation is

20:58what the text is and I still don't like

21:00it, then B,

21:03you have a wonderful mirror that shows

21:06you where you need to change your life.

21:10Because if you don't like what's in this

21:12word, either you're wrong or God's

21:14wrong. Any takers on which one it is?

21:21But blessed is the one

21:24who's not offended

21:27by Jesus.

21:29And now the messengers leave

21:33and Jesus has to give a commentary

21:36about the man who had just asked the

21:38question, "Are you the one to come?"

21:41You can hear Jesus saying, "It really

21:43irks me when I get questions like that.

21:45What's wrong with this John? how quick

21:48he is and vacasillating from his faith.

21:51How weak he is. What's the matter with

21:53him? No, no, no, no.

21:57What you get here is basically

22:01a hymn of praise

22:03for John the Baptist.

22:06And he said to the multitudes concerning

22:08John, "To all those people who went

22:11flooding to the Jordan River,

22:14huge crowds that thronged along the

22:16river banks that they might be baptized

22:19in the Jordan by John the Baptist." As I

22:22told you, at this point in Jewish

22:24history, John the Baptist was more

22:26famous than Jesus. And he said, "All you

22:29people who went out there to see John,

22:33what were you looking for?

22:35What did you go out there to see? Did

22:38you go out there to see a reed shaken by

22:41the wind? It reminds you of the story of

22:43after golf tournament, Lee Trevino was

22:45hitting practice balls on the practice

22:47te and a little old lady was sitting in

22:49the stands behind him watching him hit

22:52towering shot after shot. And the woman

22:54was ooing and aawing every time Trevino

22:58hit this shot until finally he couldn't

23:00stand it anymore. And he turned around

23:02to her and he said, "What did you

23:04expect, lady? Ground balls."

23:07That's what Jesus is saying. What did

23:08you expect when you went out there? Were

23:10you out there? Did you expect to find a

23:12reed

23:14shaking with every zephr, with every

23:16breeze of wind falling apart? No.

23:20You saw a towering tree

23:24filled with strength

23:28in John the Baptist.

23:30What'd you go to see? A man clothed in

23:33soft garments.

23:35H

23:38first year I was in seminary. This

23:40seminary just merged with another

23:41seminary. And the new faculty had come

23:42up with this glorious plan to create a

23:46theological university of the highest

23:48academic excellence in the world. And

23:51they thought the way to do this was to

23:52give such assignments that no mortal

23:54could succeed in. We had to write 200

23:58pages worth of term papers every

24:00semester and we were just writing to get

24:02them done. And the reading requirements

24:06were so great that nobody could possibly

24:09read all of this. And this was the

24:12attempt to show how great the school

24:15was. Well, one of the assignments that

24:18we got in a class was a 25page paper

24:21where we had to write on the image of

24:24the minister in our contemporary culture

24:28and we had to examine cartoons found in

24:31magazines, images in novels and on

24:35television and in the movies and then

24:37write an analysis of it. I said, I

24:39didn't come to seminary to study

24:41cartoons.

24:44What a silly assignment. This is more

24:47busy work. And we would sit in the back

24:49and we'd sing our little song. M I C K E

24:54Y M M O U S E. This is a Mickey Mouse

24:58assignment.

25:00Not worthy of our attention, but I had

25:03to do it.

25:05And what an awakening it was

25:09to see what the image of the minister is

25:13in the United States of America.

25:17The chief caricature of the pastor in

25:20our land is that of a wimp where there

25:25is no manliness,

25:28no strength, only weakness and

25:32hypocrisy.

25:33Watch it on television. Watch it in the

25:36movies. Watch it in the cartoons. And

25:38you will see this image communicated day

25:40after day after day after day.

25:45What did you go out to see? A cartoon

25:49in soft clothes.

25:53We're talking about John the Baptist.

25:56John the Baptist who came out of the

25:57wilderness who lived on locusts and wild

26:00hunting. The toughest man in Israel. You

26:04didn't go out to see

26:08a soft guy dressed in opulent clothes

26:12reclining

26:14on a couch. You went to see a man. You

26:18went to see

26:20a prophet.

26:22Before Pilate announced to the crowd of

26:25Jesus, "Achaho,

26:28behold the man." Jesus announced to this

26:32crowd

26:33of John the Baptist at a homo,

26:37"Behold the man. You went out to see a

26:41man."

26:43A man of God. What did you go to see? A

26:47prophet. Yes.

26:50Of course, you went out to see a

26:52prophet. That was the attraction. 400

26:55years of silence since Malachi.

26:58A prophet had not arisen in Israel. Then

27:00all of a sudden, out of nowhere, out of

27:02the traditional meeting place between

27:04God and his people, a new prophet comes

27:07proclaiming the kingdom of God and

27:09calling you to repent and to be

27:11baptized. That's what you went out to

27:13see, a prophet.

27:15And what you saw was a prophet. Yes.

27:20But more than a prophet.

27:22And then Jesus said, "This is he of whom

27:26it is written,

27:28Behold, I send

27:30my messenger

27:32before your face,

27:34who will prepare your way before you."

27:39Here the Old Testament prophets

27:42not only prophesy

27:44about the coming Messiah,

27:47but they prophesy about the prophet who

27:50will be the herald of the Messiah.

27:53So John himself is not just a prophet,

27:57he's the subject of prophecy and the

27:59object of prophecy.

28:02He was himself prophesied

28:05by the Old Testament prophets. Jesus

28:07said, "He's a prophet." Yes. But he's

28:08more than a prophet.

28:10He's the prophet, the herald of the

28:13Messiah,

28:15the one who would usher in the messianic

28:19era.

28:21And then Jesus gives this astonishing

28:24comment.

28:25For I say to you,

28:28among those born of women,

28:31there's not a greater prophet

28:34than John the Baptist.

28:37I often fool my students in the seminary

28:40when I say, "Who's the greatest prophet

28:41in the Old Testament?" And they'll say,

28:43"Well, it was Jeremiah or Isaiah or

28:46Ezekiel or Daniel or Amos or Moses." I

28:50said, "No, greatest prophet

28:53is John the Baptist." They said, "Well,

28:55John the Baptist is in the New

28:56Testament, not in the Old Testament." I

28:58said, "We read about him in the New

28:59Testament, but this is still the period

29:01of the Old Testament. The New Testament

29:03hasn't started yet." So, John the

29:05Baptist still belongs in terms of

29:07redemptive history to the Old Covenant.

29:10And Jesus said, "Of all of the prophets,

29:13there's none greater than John."

29:16That's easy enough to handle. But

29:20he who is least in the kingdom of God

29:24is greater than he.

29:26What?

29:28How in the world can we understand that?

29:31There's only one way I know of

29:34and that's to wait till next Sunday

29:38because I told you I wasn't going to get

29:40through this whole text. We'll have to

29:42leave the answer to that and the rest,

29:44God willing, for next week. Let's pray.

29:49Father, how we thank you for the

29:51testimony of John to Jesus

29:55and the testimony of Jesus

29:58to John.

30:00Help us, oh God, even in our afflictions

30:04to look no further

30:07than your only begotten son, in whose

30:10name we pray.

30:12Amen.

30:28In our last session in our study of the

30:30trinity, we looked at the difference

30:31between contradictions and mysteries

30:35uh with specific reference to the

30:38formula for the trinity that has

30:40developed in church history. We saw the

30:42importance of precision in language that

30:46we capture the content of scripture

30:50itself. And in this final lecture, I

30:53want to look at some of the terms that

30:56are used historically to articulate our

31:00confession of the trinity. Before I do

31:03that, let me turn your attention briefly

31:06to the very first chapter of the letter

31:09to the Hebrews in the New Testament

31:13where we read these words in verse one.

31:16God who at various times

31:19and in various ways spoke in time past

31:22to the fathers by the prophets

31:26has in these last days

31:29spoken to us by his son. Here we have

31:33Christ referred to again as the son of

31:35God whom he has appointed heir of all

31:38things through whom also he made the

31:42world. He's the agent of creation

31:45who being the brightness of his glory

31:49and the express image of his person and

31:52upholding all things by the word of his

31:55power. when he had by himself purged our

31:58sins, sat down at the right hand of the

32:00majesty on high, having become so much

32:02better than the angels, as he has by

32:05inheritance obtained a more excellent

32:07name than they. Obviously, the

32:10christologology that we find in the book

32:12of Hebrews is is exceedingly high and

32:15one of the reasons why the early church

32:17was uh inclined to affirm the deity of

32:20Christ. But here we have this

32:22interesting concept where the son of God

32:26is seen as the brightness of the glory

32:30of God which is a reference to his deity

32:34and the express image

32:37of his that is the father's person.

32:42And so I just want us to see here that

32:44the son of god

32:47is distinguished from the father in

32:51terms of the idea of personhood.

32:55It is the father's person who is

32:59expressed in the person of the son. So

33:04even though we have the distinction

33:06between father and son, we also have

33:09here that idea of a personal distinction

33:16uh in the godhead. Now, one of the

33:18problems that we have admittedly

33:21in with the language of our expression

33:25of the trinity is that when the early

33:28church used the term person

33:31to distinguish the father, son, and holy

33:33ghost from each other,

33:36the term person was used in somewhat in

33:41a somewhat different manner from how the

33:44term person is used in our culture

33:48today. And that's always a problem with

33:51language because language tends to uh be

33:55dynamic that it changes its little

33:57nuances from one generation to the next.

34:00In Elizabeth, in Elizabeth and English,

34:02if you called a girl cute, you insulted

34:06her because cute meant bow-legged where

34:09today it means something quite different

34:12from that. And that's the way language

34:14has a tendency to change over time. It

34:18was the church father Tertilian

34:21who had a background not only in

34:24theology but also in law in legal

34:28studies and in the legal field who

34:31introduced the Latin term

34:35persona

34:38in an attempt to uh express the logos

34:43christologology of the time. And there

34:47were basically two references to the

34:49concept of persona in antiquity in the

34:53Latin language. And it was this. First

34:56of all, in legal terms, a person's

35:00estate or a person's ownings and

35:05possessions were part of the persona of

35:09the individual. And so in that sense the

35:12term persona had a legal

35:16uh reference point at least to

35:19Tertillian.

35:21Also in antiquity the term persona

35:25translated into the Latin from the Greek

35:28concept of the uh drama of the period.

35:34The way uh drama was carried out was

35:38that sometimes the actors on the stage

35:42had multiple roles or multiple uh parts

35:47in the play. The same actor having more

35:49than one part. And when a actor was

35:53changing his role

35:56during the play, he would put a

35:59different mask in front of his face and

36:02he would speak through that mask because

36:06the mask indicated the role that he was

36:10playing at the time. You've seen the

36:12symbolism of Greek drama where you have

36:14the twin masks, one of them frowning,

36:17which goes back to uh the dramatic

36:20tragedy, and the other one with a big

36:23smile that represents comedy. Well,

36:26those masks that were used on stage by

36:30actors who had multiple roles were

36:33called persona.

36:35I saw that done once in my life uh many

36:39years ago. One of the biggest hit plays

36:41on Broadway was a modern version of the

36:45biblical book of Job and it was entitled

36:48simply JB

36:51and Basil Wthbone of Sherlock Holmes

36:54fame and and Sheriff of Nottingham fame

36:57from the old Robin Hood series. Basil

37:00Wthbone played both the role of God and

37:05the role of Satan in that Broadway

37:08production. In fact, when I saw it, I

37:10was fortunate enough to sit literally

37:13front row center. And Wthbone would

37:16stand right at the front end of the

37:17stage. He wasn't 5t away from me during

37:20the production of that play. And he had

37:22these two masks. And when he was

37:24articulating the role of God, he would

37:26put one mask in front of his face and

37:28speak through it. And when he was

37:29articulating the role of Satan, he would

37:32take the other mask and speak through

37:33that. And that was a throwback to

37:36antiquity when these masks were used to

37:40indicate different roles or different

37:44persons. That's why they were called in

37:48the plural persona.

37:51Now that's the original concept that

37:53Tertilian introduces into church

37:55history. But as the church developed

37:59over the first four or five centuries,

38:02the concept of person became more

38:06specified than that. And the Greek word

38:11uh was the word that was used was the

38:15word hoopostois or we call it in English

38:19hypothatic.

38:21the hypostatic union

38:26and the word hoopostosis

38:29also has a certain significance in the

38:33Greek language and it's also has a a

38:35role in modern science for some of you

38:37who are inclined to understand how it's

38:40used there but to understand the

38:43hypothatic union I want us to review a

38:46couple of basic concepts that we have in

38:49our language and in our vocabulary

38:52specifically three words that we're all

38:56familiar with. But these three words are

39:00very important when it comes to

39:02understanding the Christian doctrine of

39:04the trinity. Those three words are first

39:07of all essence,

39:11second of all existence,

39:17and third of all subsistence.

39:24Now you've all heard those three words

39:26at one time or another in your lifetime.

39:29Essence,

39:30existence, and subsistence.

39:34And to understand the import of these

39:37concepts, we have to go back a little

39:40bit into Greek thinking and Greek

39:42philosophy where we've already seen that

39:46with respect to the term homoonios

39:50at Homoios

39:52at Nika and so on that the term usios

39:58is the present participle of the Greek

40:01verb to be. And so we would translate

40:05that term usios into English by the word

40:10being.

40:12or

40:14synonyms for the Greek concept of being

40:18would include words like substance,

40:23essence,

40:26and the simplest more crude definition

40:29of Usios is simply stuff. And if you go

40:35to the ancient philosophers who sought

40:38for ultimate reality, who were involved

40:40in the task of what we call metaphysics

40:44or that fus or physics that it goes

40:47above and beyond what we perceive in

40:50this world, they were looking for

40:52ultimate reality, that which does not

40:55manifest change.

40:58They were looking for the substance or

41:00the essence of things.

41:03And that was called the usios or as I

41:08said the essence or substance. Plato

41:11made a very important distinction

41:13between being

41:16and becoming.

41:18And again this distinction was rooted in

41:21what we call prescratic philosophy in

41:24the philosophers before Socrates. Those

41:28of you who have looked at our course on

41:30the consequence of ideas which gives us

41:32an overview of the history of philosophy

41:33would be familiar with this. I mentioned

41:35that two previous philosophers to Plato

41:39were locked in conflict about the role

41:41of being and becoming in reality.

41:45Parmenities

41:46uh who was considered the most brilliant

41:49prescratic philosopher about which about

41:52whom almost nothing survives to this day

41:55is famous for his statement that he made

41:57on one occasion. Whatever is

42:04because if something is constantly

42:06changing,

42:08can we ever really say what it is?

42:12Because as soon as you think you've

42:13described what it is, it's not that

42:15anymore. It's changed. And he's saying

42:18for anything to be real. Ultimately, it

42:22has to be in a state of being. There has

42:25to be a real essence or substance to it.

42:28Otherwise, it would just be a fig newton

42:31of our imaginations.

42:33All right? So Plato made this

42:35distinction between uh being and

42:37becoming because permenities said things

42:40are whatever is is and his counterpart

42:43was Heracitis. Some call him the father

42:45of modern existentialism. Heracitis said

42:48no whatever is is changing.

42:53All things are in a state of flux. The

42:56only thing that's constant is change

42:59itself. And he said, "You can't step

43:00into the same river twice because by the

43:02time you take your second step, the

43:04river has moved on and it's not the same

43:06river that you stepped in the first

43:08time. In fact, you're not the same

43:09person because you've changed, if only

43:11by being a few seconds older."

43:14And so he says, "What what is most basic

43:17to all the reality that we perceive in

43:20this world is that whatever else we see,

43:22even if it's a rock, it's in a process

43:24of change. It's in a process of

43:27becoming."

43:28But you see Plato was saying nothing can

43:30become something unless it participates

43:32in some way in being. Because if it were

43:36totally becoming, and this is the way

43:38Aristotle said, if it were totally

43:40becoming, it would be only potentially

43:43something.

43:44And something that is pure becoming

43:46would be potentially anything but

43:49actually

43:50nothing.

43:52And that's why Aristotle as well as

43:54Plato argued that for becoming to be

43:57meaningful there has to be some prior

44:00being. And in being there's no

44:02potentiality.

44:04God is pure being. He's pure actuality.

44:08No no no potential in him. But in any

44:12case, when they were discussing the

44:14difference between being and becoming,

44:17they used they were speaking here of the

44:19difference between essence, which is the

44:21being element of something, the

44:23substance of it. And

44:27and if we want to talk about the

44:29becoming dimension

44:32in philosophical terms, the key word

44:35that has been used historically is the

44:36second one, existence.

44:39I once gave a gave a lecture

44:42at one of our conferences where I

44:46publicly denied the existence of God. I

44:50said, I want to emphatically affirm

44:52today that God does not exist. In fact,

44:57if he did exist, I would stop believing

45:00in him. Now, if ever anything sounded

45:02like a nonsense statement, it was that.

45:05But what I meant by that when I said God

45:08does not exist, I said that God is not

45:10in a state of becoming. He's in a state

45:13of pure being. If he were in a state of

45:16existence, he would be undergoing

45:18mutations. He would be changing. He

45:21would not be immutable. He would not be

45:24the god that we believe in. Now when uh

45:28when Plato for example was dealing with

45:31these concepts

45:34there were basically three categories

45:37there was being

45:40becoming

45:43and non-being.

45:47And non-being of course is a synonym for

45:52nothing.

45:53And what is nothing?

45:57Well, to ask that question is to answer

45:59it. Because if I say nothing is

46:02something, I'm attributing something

46:05about nothing. I'm saying that nothing

46:07has some content to it. Nothing has some

46:10being to it. And if it has some being to

46:12it, then it's not nothing. It's

46:15something. So, one of the most difficult

46:17concepts we have in philosophy to ever

46:19deal with is the concept of nothingness.

46:22Pure nothingness. Try to think about

46:24pure nothing. You can't do it. I mean,

46:26Jonathan Edwards defined nothingness as

46:29what sleeping rocks dream of.

46:32The closest thing I ever came to a

46:34definition of nothingness was when my

46:36son was in junior high. And he'd come

46:38home from school every day. I'd say,

46:40"What'd you do in school today?" And

46:41he'd say, "Nothing."

46:43So, I would define nothing as what my

46:46what my son did in school every day.

46:49It's impossible to do nothing. If you're

46:52doing you're doing something. So what

46:57what Plato was getting at was that human

47:01existence or that realm of becoming

47:07exists or is somewhere between being and

47:12non-being. You notice that I started to

47:14say exists and then I said change it to

47:16is. There's no way. I mean people who

47:18object to the use of Greek categories in

47:21Christian thought I challenge them try

47:23to speak for two minutes without using

47:26some form of the verb to be. See how

47:29long you can be articulate and

47:30communicate anything without falling

47:33back on some category of being or

47:36existence. It's absolutely essential to

47:38our language and to all communications.

47:41So in any case

47:44uh the the etmological derivation of the

47:49word existence is that it comes from the

47:51prefix in Latin X which means

47:55out of and the and the uh root cister

47:59the verb which means to stand.

48:04So literally

48:06to exist means to stand out of

48:09something. No, that doesn't mean that if

48:11you exist that you're outstanding.

48:14Don't come don't come to that

48:16conclusion. What it means is that it is

48:19it is describing a position or a

48:22posture. And the idea if I could if I

48:25could try some artwork here is uh let's

48:30say that this person is a stick figure.

48:36Okay. And that stick figure has one foot

48:41in being

48:44and the other foot

48:46in non-being.

48:50So that he is standing out of being but

48:53he's also standing out of non-being.

48:57And so he's in that position between

48:59pure being. He's not pure being but at

49:03the same time we're not nothing. We have

49:07reality attributed to us and so we stand

49:10out of being and we stand out of

49:13non-being and therefore we are in a

49:15state of existence. Now when

49:19uh the church historically articulated

49:22the doctrine of the trinity it did not

49:25say one in essence three in existences

49:28did not say one in essence uh they did

49:32say three in person but what is meant by

49:35the personal distinction in the trinity

49:37is not so much three distinct existences

49:41but rather the term that is used is the

49:44term subsistence

49:47And subsistence is just the Latin

49:49equivalent equivalent to the Greek

49:52concept of hypostosis

49:54because both of them mean basically the

49:57same thing linguistically and

49:59etmologically.

50:01You hear the term subsistence frequently

50:04used in our culture, in our language

50:07with respect to people who are

50:09povertystricken,

50:11who are extremely

50:13uh needy, who are barely surviving,

50:16eking out uh what we call a subsistence

50:20level of life, almost like they're lower

50:26than existing. Now the reason for that

50:30use of the term is again instead of the

50:33prefix x like we have in the word

50:37existence we have the prefix sub with

50:42the same root and the prefix sub means

50:46>> below

50:47>> below or under.

50:50And so again if we go to that Greek

50:53concept of hypoatic union hooposttois

50:57means in Greek standing beneath or

51:01standing under. So the two words

51:04hoopistasis or hypothatic and

51:07subsistence mean linguistically the same

51:10thing and both of them deal with this

51:14same root that we find in existence the

51:17root to stand.

51:19So in this case what the church has said

51:22is that in God there is one essence

51:26but three subsistences.

51:31All right? There are three persona that

51:34is who stand under

51:37the essence. They're part of the

51:40essence. They are they are all of the

51:42same essence. But we are making a

51:44distinction that I said before that is

51:47not essential. There's not an essential

51:51difference between the father and the

51:53son and the holy spirit because all

51:55three have the essence of deity.

51:59Nevertheless,

52:01there are true

52:05peculiar attributes of each of the

52:08member of the Godhead that by which we

52:11distinguish one from another. We say the

52:14father is God, the son is God, and the

52:16holy spirit is God. But we don't say

52:19that the father is the son and the son

52:22is the holy spirit or that the holy

52:24spirit is the father. We don't do that

52:27because we make these real distinctions.

52:30They are real but they do not disturb

52:33the essence of deity. So the

52:36distinctions within the godhead are if

52:39you will subdistinctions

52:43within the essence subpoints within the

52:47singular being of God. one essence,

52:52three subsistences,

52:55and that's really about as close as we

52:57can get to articulating

53:01uh the historic doctrine of the Trinity.

53:12Last week, we ended our study of the

53:15book of Acts being suspended by Luke's

53:19not giving us the final resolution to

53:23the life of the Apostle Paul. And today,

53:26I promise for you an epilogue to sort of

53:29fill in the gap between the end of the

53:32book of Acts and the end of the life of

53:35the apostle. So, with that in mind, I'm

53:38going to turn this morning to Paul's

53:41last letter that he wrote, his second

53:44epistle to Timothy, to the last chapter

53:47of that book in chapter 4, beginning in

53:51verse 6.

53:54For I'm already being poured out as a

53:57drink offering,

53:59and the time of my departure is at hand.

54:04I fought the good fight.

54:07I have finished the race.

54:10I have kept the faith.

54:13And finally, there is laid up for me the

54:16crown of righteousness,

54:18which the Lord, the righteous judge,

54:20will give to me on that day. And not to

54:23me only,

54:25but to all who have loved his appearing.

54:30Be diligent to come to me quickly.

54:33For Deus has forsaken me, having loved

54:35this present world, and has departed for

54:38Thessalonica,

54:40cresence for Galatia, Titus for Dalatia,

54:44and only Luke is with me. Get Mark and

54:49bring him with you, for he is useful to

54:52me for ministry.

54:54And Taekus I've sent to Ephesus.

54:58Bring the cloak that I left with Carpass

55:00at Trrowaz when you come and the books,

55:04especially the parchments.

55:08Alexander the copper smith did me much

55:10harm.

55:12May the Lord repay him according to his

55:13works. You also must beware of him, for

55:17he has greatly resisted our words.

55:21At my first offense, no one stood with

55:23me, but all forsook me. May it not be

55:26charged against them.

55:30But the Lord stood with me

55:33and strengthened me so that the message

55:36might be preached fully through me and

55:38that all the Gentiles might hear.

55:41And also I was delivered out of the

55:42mouth of the lion. And the Lord will

55:44deliver me from every evil work and

55:47preserve me for his heavenly kingdom.

55:50To him be glory

55:53forever

55:55and ever.

55:57Amen.

55:59Greet Prisa and Aquilla.

56:02The household of Anespherus

56:05Arasa stayed in Corinth. Petrrophamus I

56:07have left in my sick. Do your utmost

56:12to come before winter.

56:15Ubulus greet you as well as Putin's,

56:18Lionus, Claudia,

56:20all the brethren.

56:23The Lord Jesus Christ

56:26be with your spirit.

56:28Grace be with you.

56:33Amen.

56:35He who has ears to hear the word of God,

56:38let them hear.

56:40We thank you, oh God,

56:44for these final words

56:48of your anointed one.

56:51and the way that you have used them

56:53beyond that hour

56:56of his imminent demise,

56:59but have used these words across the

57:01ages to give comfort, encouragement, and

57:05inspiration

57:08to all of your people.

57:11May that be so again this morning.

57:15For we ask it in Jesus' name.

57:19Amen.

57:22First time I went to Rome, I went with a

57:24group that I was leading in a tour and

57:28we had professional tour guides of the

57:30city and they asked me in advance what

57:33itinerary we would like to follow when

57:36we got to that city. They suggested the

57:40coliseum and the ruins of the various

57:44temples and the Roman forum and the

57:47Vatican and St. Peter's Basilica and all

57:50of those famous sites of Rome. And I

57:53said, "Well, the first place I want to

57:55see, the most important place I want to

57:57go is to the Lateran Church." And that

57:59shocked the agent because they said,

58:01"Why would you go to the Lateran Church?

58:03It's it's where the Holy Sea used to be,

58:07but the Lateran Church was replaced by

58:09St. Peter's as the Basilica for the

58:13reigning pontiff."

58:15I said, 'I want to go to the Lan church

58:18because that's where the sacred stairs

58:20are that Martin Luther visited in 1511

58:24and had his crisis experience when he

58:27joined all the pilgrims there going up

58:29the sacred stairs on his knees saying

58:32prayers on each step so that he might

58:35win indulgences

58:37for his soul and for the souls of his

58:39departed relatives.

58:42And when he got to the top of those

58:44stairs, he stood up and he said out

58:46loud,

58:48"Who knows

58:51if this is true?"

58:54And the seeds of disquitude began to

58:57assail his soul from that experience

59:00until he was awakened to the gospel of

59:03justification by faith alone and the

59:07reformation was underway.

59:10But there was a bonus in that trip.

59:12Serendipity. Something that I didn't

59:14expect. When the tour guide took us on

59:16our way to the forum to one little stop

59:19where we went down into what had been

59:22originally used as a place to gather

59:26water, a system carved out of solid

59:30rock. And it was a chamber about 15 ft

59:33wide and 15 ft deep and about 8 ft high.

59:38And this cavern was cold, dark, wet, and

59:44dank. I said, 'W what's this? They said,

59:48'Well, this is the Mamortine prison

59:52where the Apostle Paul

59:56was held captive

59:58when he was waiting

1:00:00execution. From the steps of that

1:00:03prison, one can look across the street

1:00:05and see the ruins of the forum where the

1:00:09Romans legislated their law and carried

1:00:12out their law. And it says, "A man in

1:00:15prison looks out the window of his cell

1:00:17and can see the scaffold for his hanging

1:00:20being built." So the Apostle Paul

1:00:24awaited

1:00:26his last moments when his head would be

1:00:29placed upon the executioner's

1:00:33block.

1:00:35And I don't know, none of us knows how

1:00:39long Paul was held prisoner in that

1:00:45system.

1:00:47Was it for several months? Was it for

1:00:49several weeks? We don't know. But as I

1:00:52stepped down into that place, all I

1:00:54could imagine was Paul there in that

1:00:57dank, desperate place

1:01:01writing his final letter

1:01:04to Timothy.

1:01:07It was spooky. It was like being it was

1:01:08haunted almost. I mean, to stand there

1:01:10and think this is where it happened.

1:01:12This is where Paul wrote to his beloved

1:01:15disciple and gave his last words. And he

1:01:18writes to Timothy these poignant words.

1:01:22Timothy, I'm already

1:01:26being poured out

1:01:29as a drink offering.

1:01:32He makes this reference to the Old

1:01:34Testament to the Old Testament sacrifice

1:01:37system that when the animals were

1:01:40offered in that sacrifice,

1:01:44they received an oblation, a pouring out

1:01:48of blood on the altar that would

1:01:51accompany the sacrifice.

1:01:54Now, if anybody in history understood

1:01:56that the sacrifice of Christ was a

1:01:59perfect sacrifice offered once for all

1:02:01and that Paul couldn't possibly add

1:02:04anything of merit or value to that

1:02:07perfect sacrifice of Jesus given once

1:02:10for all. Nevertheless, he was acutely

1:02:12aware

1:02:13that it is every Christian's task

1:02:17to bear witness to the perfect sacrifice

1:02:20of Christ by offering to Christ the

1:02:24sacrifice of our own lives.

1:02:27Remember

1:02:29at the end of Romans after spelling out

1:02:31the doctrines of the gospel, Paul says,

1:02:34"Therefore, my beloved brethren, I

1:02:36beseech you by the mercies of God to

1:02:39present your bodies as a living

1:02:41sacrifice unto him,

1:02:45which is your reasonable service, which

1:02:49is your reasonable act of worship." And

1:02:54so, Timothy,

1:02:55already

1:02:58I'm being poured out

1:03:01as an oblation

1:03:04to honor my Lord.

1:03:10And then he says,

1:03:13"For the time of my departure

1:03:18is at hand."

1:03:20That means it's very very close. Now I

1:03:25love the reformation study Bible. It's

1:03:28one of my works that I took great joy in

1:03:32helping with. I was responsible. Okay.

1:03:35Every note and then here in second

1:03:37Timothy when we look at this where he

1:03:38says about his det departure the

1:03:41particular author here writes this

1:03:44another metaphor for death.

1:03:46Now, if that's all the note would have

1:03:48said, I would have exed it out. But it

1:03:50goes on and says, "Paul held steadfastly

1:03:52to the hope and assurance of a

1:03:53destination beyond the grave."

1:03:56Because Paul does not say, "My death is

1:03:58at hand."

1:04:00He doesn't say to Timothy, "I'm about to

1:04:02perish."

1:04:04He doesn't say, "It's time for me,

1:04:06Timothy, to be killed."

1:04:09I prefer this English translation where

1:04:12it says for my departure

1:04:15is at hand. It's interesting if you go

1:04:19into the sources the Greek here is

1:04:22somewhat strange because the word that

1:04:23is translated for departure is the word

1:04:27analoosis which we get the English word

1:04:29directly from it analysis.

1:04:33So a more literal translation may be

1:04:35this that Paul says, "I'm already being

1:04:38poured out and the time of my analysis

1:04:42is near." But if he wrote that today,

1:04:44somebody think that he had an

1:04:45appointment with his psychiatrist

1:04:47or with his tax attorney to analyze his

1:04:52financial situation, but rather the term

1:04:55analysis in English when it was first

1:04:58coined was closer to the original

1:05:00meaning in Greek to analyze something

1:05:03was to parse it to make close careful

1:05:07distinctions

1:05:09as you separated one apart from another.

1:05:14And what Paul is saying is not that I'm

1:05:16going to die or that my personal

1:05:18existence is going to stop, but in a

1:05:23very short time,

1:05:26my body is going to be separated

1:05:30from my soul.

1:05:33I will still be alive. And in my soul, I

1:05:36will enter in to the presence of Christ.

1:05:39though my body will be put into a grave.

1:05:45The Latin source here is the word from

1:05:49which we get the word dissolution or

1:05:51even better resolution.

1:05:54So we could translate it this way that

1:05:56Paul says, "For the time of my

1:05:59resolution

1:06:01is near at hand."

1:06:04Now again, he's not saying, "I'm about

1:06:06to be killed on New Year's Eve so I can

1:06:10make a resolution." That's not the kind

1:06:12of resolution he's talking about. He's

1:06:15talking about resolving tension,

1:06:20resolving

1:06:22conflict.

1:06:24Those of you who love music know what

1:06:27it's like when the music gets away from

1:06:30the tonic foundation and you begin to

1:06:33experience the tension of dissonance and

1:06:37your ear is crying that the music be

1:06:42resolved.

1:06:44And the great musicians know how to

1:06:47resolve that tension by bringing the

1:06:50melody back home. if you will. And

1:06:54that's what Paul is saying is my whole

1:06:57life

1:06:58has been a life of stress.

1:07:01My whole life has been a life of

1:07:03tension. Haven't we didn't we read that

1:07:05week after week in the chronicle

1:07:07provided for us by Luke, which instead

1:07:10of the Acts of the Apostle could have

1:07:11been reading the tensions and distress

1:07:14of the life of Paul.

1:07:17But he said, "That's all done.

1:07:22The time of my resolution

1:07:25is at hand. Every problem that I've ever

1:07:29had, every pain I've ever felt

1:07:33will shortly

1:07:36be resolved.

1:07:38So Paul is not writing in a vein where

1:07:41his soul is discouraged or cast down.

1:07:44He's saying, Timothy, I'm ready to go

1:07:48home.

1:07:51I'm already beginning the oblation

1:07:56of the final sacrifice.

1:07:59You see, Paul died

1:08:01a martyr.

1:08:03And again, there's that one little quirk

1:08:06of the English language. The word martyr

1:08:08comes from the Greek word marteria. But

1:08:11the word martyr in Greek does not mean

1:08:13martyr. You know what it means? Witness.

1:08:17And the reason why we get that word

1:08:19martyr in our English is because the

1:08:20early church showed their witness so

1:08:24consistently that often their witness

1:08:27ended in their death. And so the word

1:08:32martyrdom which originally was

1:08:35synonymous with witnessing has now come

1:08:37to mean those who witness to the

1:08:40ultimate degree of paying with their

1:08:43lives. And now Paul borrows three

1:08:46metaphors to describe that witness that

1:08:50is about to be resolved

1:08:55where he said,

1:08:57"I have fought the good fight.

1:09:01I have finished the race.

1:09:04I've kept the faith."

1:09:07I've told you before that the experience

1:09:10I had as a 17-year-old boy

1:09:13who watched his father die a day at a

1:09:15time. I used to drag him to the dining

1:09:18room table and then back to his bedroom

1:09:20every night.

1:09:23And then one night as I was dragging

1:09:24him, fireman carry as it were across the

1:09:27living room floor, he said to me, "Stop

1:09:30and put me down for a second on the

1:09:31sofa." And so I let him sit down and I

1:09:34sat down next to him and he looked at me

1:09:36and he said, "Son,"

1:09:39he said, "I've fought the good fight."

1:09:43He said, "I've finished the race."

1:09:47He said, "I've kept the faith." Now, you

1:09:48have to understand, I had never read the

1:09:50Bible. I wasn't a Christian. I had no

1:09:52idea where those words came from, but I

1:09:55knew exactly what my father was saying

1:09:58to me. My father was looking me in the

1:09:59eye and say, "I'm going to die now."

1:10:04Those were his last words he ever spoke

1:10:06to me.

1:10:08My last words to him, to my everlasting

1:10:11shame, were the words, "Don't say that,

1:10:14Dad."

1:10:17Not realizing

1:10:19what a tremendous testimony of

1:10:21confidence of where he was going my

1:10:23father was giving when he recited those

1:10:26words to me.

1:10:28And so I carried him back to his bed.

1:10:32That night he had his final stroke, went

1:10:34into a coma, never awoke

1:10:38again here,

1:10:43but he was awake there

1:10:46instantly.

1:10:48Can you imagine how I felt later when I

1:10:51became a Christian? I was reading the

1:10:52New Testament for the first time and I

1:10:55read those words for the first time. I

1:10:57said, "Wow,

1:11:00I can't believe it how rich those words

1:11:02are." The three-fold metaphor. First of

1:11:04all, Paul says, "I have fought the good

1:11:07fight." Doesn't that rankle you a little

1:11:09bit in terms of the contemporary idea of

1:11:12what Christianity is that Christians

1:11:14should never be engaged in combat or

1:11:16conflict of any kind? We're supposed to

1:11:19be peacekeepers. always never engaged in

1:11:22arguing or debate and so on. Well, the

1:11:24New Testament tells us we're not to be

1:11:26quarrelome. We're not to be looking for

1:11:28fights. We're not supposed to be

1:11:30belligerent or bellose in our

1:11:32personality.

1:11:36But there's a fight out there.

1:11:39There is a good fight. There is a war

1:11:41out there, a spiritual war to which

1:11:44every one of us is called to be engaged

1:11:46in. There is such a thing as a good

1:11:49fight.

1:11:53Every Christian is supposed to believe

1:11:55the things of God. Every Christian is

1:11:58supposed to defend the truths of God.

1:12:00But let me take it one step further.

1:12:03It's not enough to hold the faith or

1:12:06even to defend the faith,

1:12:09but we're called to contend

1:12:12for the faith. Was that not the example

1:12:16of the Apostle Paul that for a year or

1:12:18so we've seen Sunday in and Sunday out?

1:12:21Everywhere he went, he wasn't just

1:12:24preaching Christianity wasn't just

1:12:26defending it. He was contending for it.

1:12:30Remember one of the most famous lines in

1:12:32the history of Hollywood goes back to on

1:12:34the waterfront when Marlon Brando says

1:12:37to his brothers, "I could have been a

1:12:38contender."

1:12:41What's it take to be a contender?

1:12:43Anybody can become a professional boxer.

1:12:46Bob Hope tried it in an undistinguished

1:12:50way.

1:12:52But to be a contender, you have to win.

1:12:56And you have to win enough that you

1:12:58become ranked that you have to be

1:12:59recognized as one of the top 10 fighters

1:13:03in your weight division to even be

1:13:06thought of for a moment as a contender.

1:13:09And then you have to fight your way up

1:13:11that ladder until finally you're able to

1:13:14get a championship bout, a shot at the

1:13:18title.

1:13:21The challenger

1:13:23is not the champion

1:13:26until he defeats the champion.

1:13:29But he is a contender.

1:13:32And Paul was a contender.

1:13:35In fact, Paul was a champion

1:13:38apart from Christ, the supreme champion

1:13:42of the kingdom of God

1:13:44in that day. And he said, "I have

1:13:46fought, Timothy,

1:13:48and I have fought." It's interesting the

1:13:51way the language goes. I have fought the

1:13:52fight. Well, if you fought, you were in

1:13:54a fight. And if you were in a fight, you

1:13:55fought. And so, it's almost redundant,

1:13:58but he says, I have fought the fight.

1:13:59But he he wants to say, I have fought

1:14:02the good fight. There is a good fight

1:14:06and we are all called to be enlisted

1:14:09in that battle. Now he changes the

1:14:11metaphor from the boxer to the runner

1:14:16where he said

1:14:20I finished

1:14:22the race.

1:14:25Now the race that Paul's talking about

1:14:27here

1:14:28is not the hundredyard dash.

1:14:32It's easy in one sense to be a sprinter,

1:14:37to work like mad for the kingdom

1:14:40over the short hall.

1:14:43But Paul wasn't interested in a h

1:14:45100redyard dash. He was in a marathon.

1:14:49And he was in a marathon that went a lot

1:14:51longer than 26 miles. He went in a

1:14:54marathon that seemed like it would never

1:14:56end. His whole life he was engaged in

1:14:58that race. Just this morning I was

1:15:00talking to one of our members about

1:15:01something and they said to me, "Oh, so

1:15:03you got to be patient." I said, "I know

1:15:04that. I pray for patience all the time."

1:15:06I say, "Lord, give me patience right

1:15:09now."

1:15:10And he

1:15:13he says, "My grace is sufficient for

1:15:15you." And he says, "You got to take

1:15:17things slowly."

1:15:20I said, "You don't know me very well. I

1:15:21got two speeds, fast and off.

1:15:25There is no such thing as slow.

1:15:29But that's what it takes to be a

1:15:30marathoner,

1:15:32to endure, not to just run for a hundred

1:15:35yards. I mean, who would be proud and

1:15:39say to their grandson, "Well, son,

1:15:42once I was in a hundred yard dash,

1:15:45and you should have seen me out of the

1:15:47blocks. I was running like my shoes were

1:15:50on fire."

1:15:52But at the 40 yard mark, I dropped out.

1:15:59Who would be proud of not finishing a h

1:16:01100redyard dash? I mean, that's not very

1:16:05great. But if I came in last in a

1:16:08marathon,

1:16:09but finished it,

1:16:12I would be proud to tell that to my

1:16:15grandchildren to say, I finished the

1:16:19race.

1:16:21This is what Paul is saying to Timothy.

1:16:23Timothy, I didn't just start.

1:16:26I didn't just sprint,

1:16:30but I ran and I ran and I ran

1:16:35and I ran.

1:16:37I was gasping for air

1:16:40and I kept on running.

1:16:43My legs were burning with fire,

1:16:48but I kept moving

1:16:52for the hope

1:16:55that was in front of me.

1:16:58And now, Timothy,

1:17:01the race is over.

1:17:03I broke the tape.

1:17:06I made it the whole way.

1:17:09And that whole time, Timothy

1:17:14I've kept the faith.

1:17:17Here the illustration comes from the

1:17:19military

1:17:21because even in the ancient world as

1:17:23well as in the contemporary world the

1:17:26responsibility of every soldier

1:17:30was fidelity

1:17:32to the general

1:17:34to his country. Duty,

1:17:38honor,

1:17:40country

1:17:42means fidelity.

1:17:44And when the shooting starts, the

1:17:47faithful soldier doesn't run.

1:17:50He doesn't quit.

1:17:52He goes forward.

1:17:55And that's what Paul says about his

1:17:58life.

1:17:59Like a first century Marine, his motto

1:18:02was seerfidelis, always faithful.

1:18:07And not only that sense, but the other

1:18:09nuance

1:18:10is he was also faithful

1:18:13to the doctrine

1:18:16that the Lord gave to him.

1:18:19He didn't change his theology every time

1:18:21somebody disapproved of it.

1:18:25He didn't negotiate and compromise the

1:18:28truth

1:18:30every time somebody was angered by it.

1:18:35He said, "I stayed the course.

1:18:39I remained faithful

1:18:42to my Lord

1:18:44and to his word."

1:18:47Could anybody have a better epitth than

1:18:51that?

1:18:53And so he concludes by saying,

1:18:58"Finally,

1:19:00there is already laid up for me in the

1:19:04layaway section of heaven. It already

1:19:07has my name on it

1:19:09the crown of righteousness in the

1:19:12ancient world and the Olympic games.

1:19:14When the winner was honored in the

1:19:16winner's circle, nobody came and hung a

1:19:19gold medal around their neck or a silver

1:19:21medal or a bronze medal. Rather, the

1:19:23victor was adorned with the laurel

1:19:26wreath

1:19:28symbolizing

1:19:30the title crown in his sport.

1:19:34But now he's talking about not the world

1:19:36heavyweight crown

1:19:38or the Olympic crown.

1:19:41He's talking about the crown of

1:19:44righteousness

1:19:46that Christ has put aside

1:19:49has Paul's name on it. He said, "And now

1:19:53I am ready to receive that crown."

1:19:57Which crown of righteousness not only

1:19:59will I receive,

1:20:03but all of you

1:20:06who love his coming

1:20:09will also receive that crown of

1:20:13righteousness. So you see Timothy,

1:20:17I'm ready to go.

1:20:20And even though he mentions those who

1:20:21betray him in the rest of the closing

1:20:24lines of the letter, he ends with

1:20:26doxology where he thanks God for his

1:20:29mercy and his grace. And his final words

1:20:31to Timothy,

1:20:34grace

1:20:36be with you.

1:20:40How I would have loved to have been a

1:20:41fly in the wall

1:20:43to watch Timothy when he received that

1:20:46parchment of this letter

1:20:50and watch him as he began in chapter 1

1:20:53and reads through gets to chapter 3 and

1:20:55the exhortation about holding fast to

1:20:58scripture and then come to chapter 4

1:21:03and watch Timothy's tears rolling down

1:21:06his cheeks.

1:21:09as he sees these words that Paul was

1:21:12about to die.

1:21:15I mean, he he had to be weeping when he

1:21:18read these words. And yet at the same

1:21:21time, you could see his chest start to

1:21:23swell.

1:21:25Say, "That's my mentor.

1:21:29That's the apostle

1:21:32praying for grace for me

1:21:35and for his people.

1:21:51Well, we're going to continue this

1:21:53morning with our study of the Gospel

1:21:55according to St. Luke and also continue

1:21:59our study of the Benedictus of

1:22:02Zachcharias. We've looked at the first

1:22:05two sections of it in previous weeks and

1:22:08today we're going to look at the third

1:22:11and final section of that great hymn.

1:22:15But as I did last week and the week

1:22:17before, I will be reading the hymn in

1:22:20its entirety, beginning in verse 67 of

1:22:25chapter 1 and reading through verse 80.

1:22:32Now his father Zachcharias was filled

1:22:35with the Holy Spirit and prophesied

1:22:39saying,

1:22:40"Blessed is the Lord God of Israel,

1:22:44for he has visited and redeemed his

1:22:48people and has raised up a horn of

1:22:52salvation for us in his house of his

1:22:56servant David."

1:22:58as he spoke by the mouth of his holy

1:23:01prophets who have been since the world

1:23:03began

1:23:04that we should be saved from our enemies

1:23:07and from the hand of all who hate us.

1:23:11to perform the mercy promised to our

1:23:14fathers,

1:23:15and to remember his holy covenant, the

1:23:19oath which he swore to our father

1:23:22Abraham,

1:23:23to grant us that we, being delivered

1:23:26from the hand of our enemies,

1:23:28might serve him without fear in holiness

1:23:32and righteousness before him all the

1:23:35days of our life.

1:23:38And you child will be called the prophet

1:23:41of the highest. For you will go before

1:23:44the face of the Lord to prepare his

1:23:46ways, to give knowledge of salvation to

1:23:50his people

1:23:52by the remission of their sins through

1:23:55the tender mercy of our God, with which

1:23:59the daypring from on high has visited

1:24:03us, to give light to those who sit in

1:24:06darkness and the shadow of death, to

1:24:11guide our feet, into the way of peace.

1:24:16So the child grew and became strong in

1:24:20spirit

1:24:22and was in the deserts until the day of

1:24:25his manifestation

1:24:28to Israel. Again, I remind you that this

1:24:32song of Zachcharias was inspired by the

1:24:35Holy Ghost and its inclusion in sacred

1:24:38scripture came by the same spirit's

1:24:41superintendence and inspiration

1:24:44so that it is objectively, really, and

1:24:48eternally the very word of God whose

1:24:52truth you can rely on all of your days.

1:24:56Please receive it as such.

1:25:00Let's pray

1:25:03now. Our father, as we contemplate this

1:25:05final section of the benedictives,

1:25:10we ask that by your spirit, we might

1:25:13understand the depths and riches of the

1:25:16content in it.

1:25:19That we may embrace not only with our

1:25:21minds, but our hearts and our souls the

1:25:25good news that is declared therein.

1:25:29For we ask these things in the name of

1:25:32Jesus our Lord. Amen.

1:25:37We might say that this final section of

1:25:42the Benedictus gives to us the gospel in

1:25:46a nutshell.

1:25:49as John's father now prophesied about

1:25:53his son and about his son's ministry for

1:25:58the son of God. Let's look at it in

1:26:01verse 76.

1:26:04And you child

1:26:07will be called the prophet of the

1:26:10highest

1:26:12for you will go before the face of the

1:26:14Lord

1:26:16to prepare his ways.

1:26:22We remember from other occasions in

1:26:24looking at the ministry of John the

1:26:26Baptist

1:26:28that the work of prophecy

1:26:31had ceased after the work of Malachi,

1:26:34the last of the minor prophets of the

1:26:36Old Testament

1:26:38and the voice of prophecy was silent

1:26:43in Israel

1:26:45for 400

1:26:47years. You know, we have this tendency

1:26:50when we look at ancient history in

1:26:52general and to the history of scripture

1:26:54in particular to telescope together

1:26:58various portions and sections of time.

1:27:02We think, for example, that in the Old

1:27:05Testament, miracles happened on every

1:27:09page and prophets could be found

1:27:12appearing from behind every bush. But a

1:27:17more careful study of that shows that

1:27:20there were concentrated periods of time

1:27:23in Old Testament history when there was

1:27:26a an outbreak of miracles during the

1:27:30time of Moses, for example, who was the

1:27:34mediator of the old covenant,

1:27:36who was the giver of the law of God.

1:27:40There was this whirlwind of miraculous

1:27:44activity that took place around Moses.

1:27:47And then again, we see the outbreak of

1:27:51miracle in the ministry of Elijah who

1:27:56stands at the front of a long list of

1:28:00Old Testament prophets. But for the most

1:28:04part there was very little miraculous

1:28:07activity thereafter until the coming of

1:28:10Christ where once again there was this

1:28:14marvelous outpour of miracle heralding

1:28:19the earthly ministry of our Lord. Those

1:28:23miracles were given by God for a reason.

1:28:27To certify the law with Moses. to

1:28:30certify the prophets with Elijah and his

1:28:33successors

1:28:35and above all to attest, authenticate,

1:28:39and certify the messianic ministry of

1:28:44God's only begotten son. But here, after

1:28:50years and years of prophetic voices

1:28:53being given to the people of Israel,

1:28:55where the word of God was announced by

1:28:57Elijah and Elisha, Isaiah, Jeremiah,

1:29:01Ezekiel, Daniel, and all the rest,

1:29:05not a word from God,

1:29:09400 years.

1:29:13And so many people believed

1:29:16that the voice of prophecy

1:29:19had been silenced

1:29:21forever.

1:29:23Yet those who were students of the

1:29:25prophecy of the Old Testament knew that

1:29:28some of the future prophecy then was

1:29:31that there would come a time in the

1:29:34future where one would rise up like

1:29:36Moses for example. And again in the last

1:29:39prophecy of the last prophet in the Old

1:29:42Testament from the book of Malachi, we

1:29:45read these words.

1:29:48Remember the law of Moses, my servant,

1:29:50which I commanded him in Horeb for all

1:29:52Israel with the statutes and the

1:29:55judgments.

1:29:57Behold,

1:29:59I will send you

1:30:02Elijah

1:30:04the prophet

1:30:06before the coming of the great and

1:30:07dreadful day of the Lord. And he will

1:30:10turn the hearts of the fathers to the

1:30:12children and the hearts of the children

1:30:13to their fathers, lest I come and strike

1:30:16the earth with the curse. Beloved, that

1:30:18was the last prophecy of the Old

1:30:21Testament

1:30:23where Malachi said, "The day of the Lord

1:30:26is coming,

1:30:29but before it comes,

1:30:32I will send my prophet Elijah."

1:30:38You remember that Elijah did not die,

1:30:40but was carried up bodily into heaven to

1:30:43the chariots of fire that took him away.

1:30:47And because of this prophecy, the

1:30:49ancient Jews looked forward to the

1:30:52return of Elijah every time they

1:30:54celebrated the Passover into this very

1:30:57day.

1:30:59At the table of celebration, there is a

1:31:01chair that sits there year after year

1:31:07empty.

1:31:09No one sitting in it, no one using it.

1:31:13And if you would to go and visit some

1:31:16Jewish friends at that time, you would

1:31:17ask him, "What's with that chair?"

1:31:21They would say, "That chair is for

1:31:22Elijah."

1:31:25Because God promised that he will come

1:31:27back.

1:31:28And as we will see later on in the

1:31:30unfolding of the New Testament record

1:31:33and from the teaching of our Lord

1:31:34himself that he said of John the

1:31:36Baptist, this is Elijah

1:31:42who was to come. This is the one who

1:31:45comes in the spirit and the power

1:31:49of Elijah.

1:31:51And in this prophetic hymn of

1:31:52Zachcharias,

1:31:54he says,

1:31:56"In you, child,

1:31:59you will be called

1:32:02the prophet

1:32:04of the highest,

1:32:07the prophet of the supreme God,

1:32:12and your task will be to go before the

1:32:15face of the Lord to prepare his way."

1:32:18This is also part of the prophecy of

1:32:20Isaiah that in the future before the

1:32:23Messiah would come,

1:32:25this forerunner anointed by God to

1:32:28restore the voice of prophecy would

1:32:31appear and cry to the people, "Prepare

1:32:36the path of the Lord. Make straight his

1:32:39roads.

1:32:41Be ready

1:32:43when he comes."

1:32:45And under the inspiration of the Holy

1:32:48Ghost, Zachcharias now is prophesying

1:32:51that his son will fulfill that Old

1:32:54Testament prophecy that John will be the

1:32:57forerunner of the Messiah. And together

1:33:01with the Messiah,

1:33:04he will be given the task

1:33:06to give knowledge of salvation

1:33:09to his people

1:33:12by the remission of sins

1:33:15and through the tender mercy

1:33:18of our God.

1:33:22So what's the mission?

1:33:26It's to inform people.

1:33:30It's to give them knowledge.

1:33:34We sometimes think that the purpose of

1:33:36Jesus coming was to do miracles

1:33:40and he certainly did that to heal the

1:33:43sick and so on or his purpose to come

1:33:45was to buy our salvation through his

1:33:49atonement and that's certainly true.

1:33:52But his earthly ministry, just as

1:33:54John's, began with preaching, with

1:33:58proclamation,

1:33:59with the announcement of the gospel

1:34:02early on. It wasn't called the gospel of

1:34:04Jesus Christ. It was called the gospel

1:34:06of the kingdom of God. And he called his

1:34:10hearers to learn

1:34:14to gain knowledge.

1:34:17But he didn't set up a university and

1:34:19give courses in systematic theology. It

1:34:22was a particular kind of knowledge that

1:34:25our Lord and his predecessor

1:34:28were commissioned to give.

1:34:32It was the knowledge

1:34:36of salvation.

1:34:43Suppose a prophet would walk in this

1:34:45sanctuary this morning and

1:34:48picked you out of the congregation

1:34:52and said to you, "Tell me what you know

1:34:57about salvation.

1:34:59What is it?

1:35:01What's it all about? Is this just some

1:35:03kind of religious concept that drips

1:35:05from our lips in our pious language?"

1:35:09But what's the content

1:35:13of salvation?

1:35:15How would you answer that question?

1:35:19How confident are you at this very

1:35:22moment

1:35:23that you understand

1:35:28what salvation is

1:35:31and more importantly

1:35:35whether you possess it.

1:35:38Well, in its rudimentary meaning, the

1:35:41idea of salvation biblically indicates

1:35:44the idea of being rescued from some

1:35:48impending disaster, being spared from

1:35:52some catastrophe

1:35:55to being saved from defeat in battle or

1:35:59from a life-threatening disease.

1:36:04But those were only approximate meanings

1:36:08of salvation.

1:36:10Meanings of salvation in the lower sense

1:36:12of the word. But the ultimate meaning of

1:36:15salvation in biblical terms was to have

1:36:19and experience rescue

1:36:23not from disease, not from poverty,

1:36:26not from military defeat,

1:36:31but to be rescued

1:36:34from God.

1:36:38I've talked about this before where

1:36:40several years ago I spoke to the book

1:36:43sellers convention

1:36:45over six 7,000 books sellers and

1:36:48publishers in a convention site and they

1:36:51asked me to give the plenary address and

1:36:53I gave the message entitled saved from

1:36:57what

1:36:59and when I explained to the people there

1:37:01what salvation meant I was running the

1:37:04risk of insulting their intelligence I

1:37:06said these people are engaged in

1:37:08Christian publishing. If anybody in the

1:37:10world should have a knowledge of

1:37:11salvation, these people will have it.

1:37:15And I'm carrying coals to Newcastle here

1:37:18telling these people about salvation.

1:37:22I don't think I've ever had such a

1:37:23response in all my life as I had that

1:37:26day after I told those people that what

1:37:29we're saved from is God.

1:37:3510 years later, I still had people at

1:37:37that convention coming up to me and

1:37:38said, "I never thought about that

1:37:39before."

1:37:41How can you not think about it? Because

1:37:44the culture in which you live and even

1:37:46the church society of our day tells us

1:37:49that God saves everybody. There's

1:37:51nothing to be afraid of. Who needs to be

1:37:53saved from God? We need to be saved from

1:37:57illnesses. We need to be saved from our

1:37:59enemies. We need to be saved from

1:38:00everything in the world except from God.

1:38:02What is there to fear from God? I'll

1:38:03tell you what there is to fear from God.

1:38:05His unmititigated wrath.

1:38:08There is no worse catastrophe

1:38:10that can ever befall you, my dear

1:38:13friends, than to fall into the hands of

1:38:15the living God while you're still in

1:38:18your sin.

1:38:21This knowledge of salvation

1:38:23is the knowledge that is being announced

1:38:28of reconciliation

1:38:33between God

1:38:35and mankind.

1:38:39And what is the absolute necessary

1:38:42condition for reconciliation?

1:38:46What is the thing that has to be before

1:38:49any reconciliation can ever take place?

1:38:53Well, before reconciliation can take

1:38:54place, there first has to be

1:38:56estrangement.

1:38:59People who aren't aranged

1:39:02don't ever need to be reconciled.

1:39:06But we're at ease in Zion.

1:39:09We have calluses on our souls. And we

1:39:11think

1:39:13we're not estranged from God. I don't

1:39:15have anything against him. Why do I need

1:39:18to be reconciled? I'll tell you why.

1:39:20Because in your natural state, you've

1:39:22declared war on him.

1:39:26Your natural human proclivity, the

1:39:30natural tendency of your soul is enmity

1:39:34against God. You consider him your

1:39:38personal enemy.

1:39:42But whenever we

1:39:44declaw God and describe him as a higher

1:39:47being or some cosmic force,

1:39:50there's nothing to fear.

1:39:53But when we talk about the God of the

1:39:56Bible,

1:40:00who is personal

1:40:03and who holds every one of us

1:40:05accountable for our lives

1:40:08and who tells us that we will experience

1:40:10everlasting damnation

1:40:13if we never repent and come to Christ.

1:40:18and even our culture today.

1:40:21It's okay as long as we remain vague to

1:40:25speak about God in general.

1:40:32But let a football player

1:40:35announce to the public

1:40:37that he's a disciple of Jesus Christ.

1:40:42Watch the hostility

1:40:45explode.

1:40:47Oh, you can talk about God.

1:40:51But when you get down to Jesus,

1:40:55you're down to the ultimate issue.

1:40:58If you are not in Christ,

1:41:00you're not reconciled.

1:41:03You're still at war. And if you don't

1:41:05believe that war is real, read the

1:41:07newspaper every day. You don't have to

1:41:08read any further than the sports page.

1:41:14Only God could enable Tim Tibo to beat

1:41:18the Pittsburgh. Steel

1:41:30just what's so funny.

1:41:39But the song goes on to give us more of

1:41:41the content of this salvation,

1:41:44the knowledge of salvation

1:41:46to his people

1:41:49by

1:41:53the remission of their sins.

1:41:57For cancer patients,

1:42:00there's usually no better news

1:42:03than when the doctor tells them

1:42:06your disease

1:42:08is in remission.

1:42:11It means it's gone away.

1:42:16It doesn't always stay away.

1:42:19We know the crushing disappointment of

1:42:22those

1:42:24who experience

1:42:26when it comes back.

1:42:29But with a remission of sins, beloved,

1:42:34it never comes back.

1:42:39When God forgives a sinner,

1:42:43he forgives them forever.

1:42:47I knew no theology when the night I

1:42:50became a Christian.

1:42:53Told that story many times.

1:42:56I listened to a friend talk to me about

1:42:58Jesus as if he were real.

1:43:02As if my friend had a personal

1:43:04relationship with him. I'd never heard

1:43:05anything like that in my life.

1:43:08But as I listened, I knew

1:43:13I got my first knowledge

1:43:17of salvation.

1:43:20And I went to my college dormatory room

1:43:24and walked in the room and turned out

1:43:26the light and got on my knees before the

1:43:29bed. And the only thing I could say was,

1:43:31"God,

1:43:32forgive me of my sins.

1:43:38And in that moment,

1:43:41I experienced the unspeakable joy,

1:43:47having my soul flooded

1:43:50with the absolute assurance

1:43:53that every sin I had ever committed

1:43:58and ever would commit

1:44:01was forgiven

1:44:04in that moment.

1:44:07And in that moment, I experienced

1:44:11salvation,

1:44:13which was the most decisive moment

1:44:17and defining moment

1:44:20of my entire life.

1:44:23Nobody can have their sins remitted

1:44:29and remain the same.

1:44:33And that's why when we come here, we

1:44:35come here not just to worship, but we

1:44:36come here to praise God and to thank God

1:44:39for what he has done for us. And I just

1:44:41hope that every person sitting in this

1:44:44room has known the joy of their

1:44:46salvation, has known that their sins

1:44:50have been fully and finally forgiven.

1:44:53But my guess would be that that is

1:44:56nowhere near the truth. There must be

1:44:59many of you in the pews this morning

1:45:03who have no knowledge of salvation

1:45:08who have never known that your sins

1:45:11have been forgiven.

1:45:13This is the doctrine of justification by

1:45:15faith that we talk about all the time

1:45:17theologically with that in the heart and

1:45:20soul of our justification it

1:45:22justification includes at its very core

1:45:28the remission of our sins.

1:45:31But how does it happen?

1:45:34Listen to what the song says.

1:45:38through. That is the means by means of

1:45:43the how

1:45:45of forgiveness of sins

1:45:52through the tender mercy

1:45:55of our God.

1:45:57Theologically we talk about being

1:46:00justified by faith through grace because

1:46:04of Christ.

1:46:06And that's true. And here in the song,

1:46:10the remission of sins

1:46:13is through the mercy of God.

1:46:17The forgiveness of sins is not something

1:46:20that you merit. It's not something that

1:46:22you strive to achieve. It's not that you

1:46:25can make up for your sins by works of

1:46:28righteousness. That is the worst myth

1:46:31ever perpetrated in the church.

1:46:36If you want to go in a fool's air and

1:46:39chase the hope

1:46:41of redeeming yourself

1:46:45by your own achievements.

1:46:49If any activity was doomed to failure,

1:46:52it would be that the only way you can

1:46:55know salvation, the only way you can

1:46:57have the remission of sins is through

1:46:59the mercy of God. But it's not through

1:47:01the justice of God. It's through the

1:47:03mercy of God. But notice here under the

1:47:06influence of the Holy Spirit how the

1:47:08mercy of God is described.

1:47:11I can't just pass over this.

1:47:18Through the tender mercy

1:47:21of God,

1:47:24you can get stopped by a policeman on

1:47:26the highway and

1:47:28have that policeman

1:47:31just give you a warning. And instead of

1:47:33giving you justice and the ticket you

1:47:36deserve,

1:47:38he says, "I'll let you go this time."

1:47:40But he may do it with a scowl. He may do

1:47:42it with a frown. You've received mercy,

1:47:44but it wasn't very tender.

1:47:48Years ago, I did a seminar on marriage

1:47:51for women.

1:47:53And in this seminar, I don't know how

1:47:55many women, 50, 100, whatever were

1:47:57there.

1:47:58I went through this exercise with them.

1:48:01I said, "If you had the opportunity to

1:48:02have a male orderer husband,

1:48:06just like you order a car, especially

1:48:08with all the exact accessories that you

1:48:11want from your car dealer, now you get

1:48:13to order the husband of your dreams.

1:48:17Write down the most important

1:48:20characteristics and attributes that this

1:48:23man would have." And so we had all these

1:48:26ladies give all of their special

1:48:30characteristics that they wanted from a

1:48:32husband.

1:48:34And we tallied them all up. And there

1:48:36were two things that stood out. The two

1:48:39things that they wanted more than

1:48:41anything else in a man. Listen to what

1:48:43they were.

1:48:44They wanted a man who was strong.

1:48:52And they wanted a man

1:48:54who was tender.

1:48:59They didn't want

1:49:02a strong man who was harsh.

1:49:06They didn't want a strong man who was a

1:49:08bully.

1:49:10They didn't want to marry a mouse. They

1:49:12wanted to marry a man.

1:49:15But they wanted in that strength,

1:49:19in that manhood

1:49:22to find tenderness,

1:49:26every woman's dream.

1:49:31And the husband of the church

1:49:34is the strong and mighty Jesus

1:49:38whose mercy

1:49:41is tender.

1:49:45When God forgave me of my sins,

1:49:50the mercy that he poured out on my soul

1:49:52that night was sweet

1:49:55and gentle

1:49:59and tender.

1:50:02That's how the mercy of God

1:50:06functions.

1:50:08Oh, the few lines that are left

1:50:12we could let go till next week, but I

1:50:14won't do that.

1:50:17Through the tender mercy of our God,

1:50:21with which

1:50:23with which

1:50:27the daypring from on high

1:50:31has visited us.

1:50:34I told you before how many multitudes of

1:50:38titles there are in the scriptures for

1:50:40Jesus.

1:50:42Last week we looked at the title the

1:50:44horn of salvation in the house of David.

1:50:48Here in this same song is another title

1:50:52for Jesus.

1:50:54The daypring

1:50:57from on high in the Greek it's the

1:50:59anatole that means

1:51:02the breaking of the dawn

1:51:06when the sun rises.

1:51:10That's the day spring.

1:51:13That moment where the night retreats

1:51:18and the shadows fall away

1:51:22and the lights come on

1:51:25in the morning dawn.

1:51:29That is who is described here as a title

1:51:34for Jesus. Going back again to Malachi

1:51:38where he said when that day of the Lord

1:51:40comes when Elijah will return, he said

1:51:44the son not s o n but s u n the son of

1:51:48righteousness will arise with healing in

1:51:52his wings.

1:51:55That's the daypring

1:51:58from on high,

1:52:01the rising sun

1:52:04who visits us. The first Sunday we

1:52:07looked at this, we spent the whole

1:52:09sermon on the concept of visitation of

1:52:11God. And here it comes again at the end

1:52:14of the song.

1:52:16We are visited

1:52:18by the son of righteousness.

1:52:21When that sun rises, when the daypring

1:52:23appears, what happens?

1:52:27He gives light

1:52:30to those who sit in darkness.

1:52:34He gives light to those

1:52:38who are in the shadow

1:52:40of death.

1:52:42light

1:52:44that makes it possible for us to see

1:52:47where our feet are going

1:52:50into the way of peace.

1:52:54Remission of sins,

1:52:57the knowledge of salvation, the tender

1:53:00mercy of God,

1:53:03the son of righteousness coming

1:53:07in the midst of darkness

1:53:09and of the shadow of death.

1:53:13And the song ends

1:53:16with this footnote.

1:53:20So the child grew, John the Baptist,

1:53:24and became strong in spirit

1:53:28and was in the deserts

1:53:31till the day of his epiphany, till the

1:53:33day of his manifestation

1:53:38to Israel,

1:53:40the desert,

1:53:44the traditional meeting place

1:53:47between man and God. the desert

1:53:52where Elijah fled for refuge,

1:53:56fed by the ravens, living in a cave.

1:54:01So now living on wild locust and honey,

1:54:06this child grows stronger and stronger

1:54:09and stronger until the summons comes to

1:54:13him saying, "Now

1:54:16prepare

1:54:18the way

1:54:20of the Lord."

1:54:22What a song.

1:54:24So much there. You can't do justice in

1:54:26three weeks to that. We just scratched

1:54:29the surface.

1:54:31Read it again and again

1:54:33for your soul's edification. Let's pray.

1:54:38Thank you, oh Lord, for these words of

1:54:40promise, for the salvation that has

1:54:42come, for the remission of our sins

1:54:45through the experience of your tender

1:54:48mercy.

1:54:50We thank you that you have not

1:54:53been harsh with us. that even when you

1:54:57convict us of our sins, there's a

1:54:59certain sweetness to it that makes us

1:55:03able

1:55:04to accept it and to turn from our wicked

1:55:07ways.

1:55:09Thank you for this great gospel

1:55:13that is ours.

1:55:16Amen.

1:55:41We're going to discuss the problem that

1:55:44the research indicates is the number one

1:55:47reason that people give for the

1:55:51breakdown and break up of marriages. And

1:55:54as I'm sure you can guess, the number

1:55:57one problem listed in America for

1:56:01struggles and the dissolving of

1:56:03marriages in the United States is this

1:56:09sex,

1:56:11lack of harmony, lack of communication,

1:56:14lack of intimacy and adjustment in the

1:56:18sexual dimensions of marriage. That may

1:56:21seem to be somewhat of a surprise to us

1:56:24in light of the fact that in recent

1:56:26decades we've gone through an explosion

1:56:29not only of interest but in literature

1:56:32of sexual relationships and harmony. You

1:56:36can go to any bookstore to the self-help

1:56:40section of the bookstore or even

1:56:41separate sections on sex in marriage and

1:56:44find dozens of marriage manuals, how-to

1:56:47books, and counseling books on how to

1:56:50have a great sex dimension to your

1:56:54marriage. But somehow

1:56:56we're still experiencing severe problems

1:56:59of sexual harmony within marriage. I

1:57:03have to say this too at this point that

1:57:05in that even though the research

1:57:06indicates that this is the number one

1:57:08reason given for the breakdown of

1:57:10marriages in our country. I personally

1:57:12don't believe that it is the number one

1:57:14reason. I believe it's the number reason

1:57:16people say but I think there's an

1:57:18underlying reason that goes even deeper

1:57:20than the sexual dimension which we'll

1:57:22look at in another session. But since

1:57:25this is one that has people very very

1:57:28concerned, I think we need to spend a

1:57:31little bit of time on it. One of the

1:57:33biggest problems of course that we face

1:57:36in adjusting to the sexual dimension of

1:57:39marriage, particularly as Christians,

1:57:42is making the transition

1:57:45from living in a life situation all the

1:57:48way up till marriage where God says no.

1:57:52And then all of a sudden we're expected

1:57:54to enter into a relationship where that

1:57:56which was once forbidden

1:57:59is now not only allowed

1:58:02but in biblical categories is commanded.

1:58:06That is very difficult for for many

1:58:08people to understand that that which is

1:58:11forbidden in one context is absolutely

1:58:15commanded by God within the bond of

1:58:18marriage. Now, the church has struggled

1:58:21for centuries with that dimension. Just

1:58:24last week, for example, I was reading an

1:58:26essay from the great theologian St.

1:58:28Augustine, who is one of my all-time

1:58:30favorite writers and theologians. And in

1:58:33this particular essay, he was making the

1:58:36case that the only moral justification

1:58:40for marriage for sex relationships

1:58:43within marriage is with a specific view

1:58:48towards conceiving and bearing children.

1:58:52That is, Augustine saw no room within

1:58:55marriage and the marriage relationship

1:58:57for the enjoyment of sex as a physical

1:59:01bond involving physical pleasure between

1:59:04a husband and a wife. In other words, it

1:59:07was kind of a necessary evil that one

1:59:09had to go through in order to propagate

1:59:11the species. Now, I'm persuaded that

1:59:14that viewpoint that even the great St.

1:59:16Augustine advocated is one that is found

1:59:20not in scripture but has its roots in

1:59:23ancient Greek and oriental views that

1:59:26depreciated the value of anything

1:59:29physical.

1:59:32We know what the sin of materialism is

1:59:34in this world where people seek all of

1:59:36life and all of meaning through physical

1:59:40things through money, through food,

1:59:42through wine, women and song, through

1:59:44the gratification of the body. And we

1:59:47call that materialism. And we know that

1:59:49that is a distortion of the reality that

1:59:52God has made. And sometimes to

1:59:54counteract that we go to the other

1:59:57extreme and fall into the error of what

1:59:59may be called spiritualism

2:00:02where the only thing that is of value is

2:00:05the spiritual dimension the soul. But we

2:00:08believe in a God who made a physical

2:00:10world

2:00:12who made man not just as a disembodied

2:00:16spirit but as a person who in who has

2:00:19both a soul and a body and the New

2:00:23Testament for example and the teaching

2:00:24of Jesus shows a profound concern for

2:00:27man's material well-being that we are

2:00:31called to feed the hungry to clothe the

2:00:34naked to give shelter to the homeless

2:00:37Those are physical concerns. And so even

2:00:41the apostle tells us that

2:00:44the man's body belongs to the woman in

2:00:47marriage and the woman's body belongs to

2:00:49the man and we are not to defraud each

2:00:51other. So we don't find this negative

2:00:55view of the physical dimension of our

2:00:58humanity in scripture. But God is very

2:01:02clear about the context in which sex may

2:01:06be enjoyed.

2:01:09I remember not too long ago doing a

2:01:11study of the New Testament view of sex

2:01:16and just isolating those passages in the

2:01:18New Testament where Jesus and the

2:01:20apostles speak about sex. And in my

2:01:22studies, I went to what's called the

2:01:26theological dictionary of the New

2:01:27Testament, which is produced by a group

2:01:29of of German scholars who have no brief

2:01:32for evangelical Christianity and are by

2:01:34no means conservative in their approach

2:01:36to things. And the particular scholar

2:01:38who had done his analysis of the New

2:01:41Testament view of sex

2:01:44came to this conclusion even though he

2:01:47himself did not embrace the position. He

2:01:49said, "We cannot deny that the New

2:01:51Testament clearly teaches that in God's

2:01:54sight, premarital sex and extrammarital

2:01:58sex are

2:02:00serious offenses against his holiness."

2:02:04So that the apostle, for example, tells

2:02:06us that we ought never, there ought

2:02:08never once be named among you the

2:02:12occasion of fornication.

2:02:15You read the apologists of the first

2:02:17century, the latter part of the first

2:02:18century and into the second century as

2:02:20they're trying to defend the Christian

2:02:22faith against the attacks coming from

2:02:24the pagan realms. Not only do they

2:02:26defend the truth claims of Christianity

2:02:29philosophically, but they say, "If you

2:02:31really want to see

2:02:33what Christianity is all about, look at

2:02:35our lives."

2:02:37And he said, "Examine the moral behavior

2:02:41of Christians.

2:02:43examine our community. See if you find

2:02:45adultery. See if you find fornication.

2:02:48Imagine that. I would never stand up

2:02:51today to the 20th century secularists

2:02:53and say, "If you want to see proof for

2:02:55the Christian faith, look at the sexual

2:02:57behavior of Christians because

2:02:59Christians are as caught up in adultery

2:03:02and fornication in some cases as

2:03:05unbelievers."

2:03:07But if we look at the New Testament, we

2:03:09hear that prohibition. So severe is it

2:03:12that it makes one of the ten

2:03:13commandments, thou shalt not commit

2:03:15adultery. Now that is not because God is

2:03:18against pleasure

2:03:20or God is against human fulfillment, but

2:03:24it is because God understands

2:03:28the sanctity of that intimacy that takes

2:03:32place when people can be naked and

2:03:36unashamed. within the context of of

2:03:40marriage. And so God is not saying that

2:03:42sex is wrong.

2:03:46He creates it. He ordains it, but he

2:03:49regulates it. He says in this

2:03:51circumstance, it's not good. I don't

2:03:54allow it here. It's destructive.

2:03:57In this circumstance, it's beautiful.

2:04:00It's expressive. It's part of what I

2:04:03have made for your enjoyment. And so we

2:04:05have that problem as Christians making

2:04:08the transition. Okay. But now the

2:04:10transition is made. Then what problems

2:04:13do we discover in terms of sexual

2:04:16fulfillment in marriage? The two biggest

2:04:20problems

2:04:21that we encounter in marriage with

2:04:25respect to sex are in the case of the

2:04:28male impotency.

2:04:34Did I spell that right?

2:04:37And in the case of the female, we use

2:04:40terms like fragidity.

2:04:42Now, those terms bother me because

2:04:44neither one of them are accurate terms

2:04:47of absolutes. Nobody's absolutely

2:04:50impotent and nobody's absolutely frigid.

2:04:54These terms represent

2:04:57a continuum degrees

2:05:00that deal with how free we are able to

2:05:03express ourselves sexually in the

2:05:06marriage estate. So that we have to

2:05:08think in terms of degrees of impotency

2:05:10or degrees of fragility. Now impotency

2:05:14of course means simply a lack of

2:05:16strength or a lack of power. And the

2:05:19word fragidity is an interesting term

2:05:21because it it suggests

2:05:25coldness.

2:05:26It suggests someone who is frozen.

2:05:31And what both of these terms are

2:05:33describing

2:05:35is a certain level of paralysis

2:05:40in sexual activity.

2:05:43And so what we have, you know, eating

2:05:46away at healthy marriages is this

2:05:50problem of sexual paralysis.

2:05:55And it's become so significant that now

2:05:57we see clinics springing up all over the

2:05:59United States medically directing their

2:06:02attention to a scientific investigation

2:06:05of what is called sexual dysfunction in

2:06:08order to help people over problems that

2:06:11are destroying their marriages. It's too

2:06:13bad I would have to say that there are

2:06:15very few if any notable Christian

2:06:19clinics of research into sexual

2:06:22dysfunction because if anybody should be

2:06:24aware of how severe this problem is in

2:06:26marriages, it should be the church

2:06:28because the clergy have to deal with it

2:06:30every day. And we have very few

2:06:32resources that we can direct people to

2:06:34who have serious problems that that they

2:06:38can attend without compromising their

2:06:41own value systems and the Christian

2:06:43ethic.

2:06:45But we need help to deal with these

2:06:48forms of paralysis.

2:06:51Now, anytime

2:06:53I encounter a form of paralysis, I look

2:06:57right away for one of two things.

2:07:00There are two things in our emotional

2:07:03experiences that contribute again and

2:07:06again to all different kinds of

2:07:07paralysis. And they are I'll write them

2:07:10on the board.

2:07:12Fear

2:07:15and guilt.

2:07:18And these two incidentally are often

2:07:20very closely related.

2:07:24We say that someone is frozen

2:07:27with fear.

2:07:29frozen with fear. He stops in his

2:07:32tracks. He can't move. He can't scream.

2:07:35He hesitates. Fear paralyzes.

2:07:40So, we discover in sexual problems that

2:07:43there is a tremendous amount of fear

2:07:47entering into the Christian bedroom.

2:07:51Well, what are the fears about?

2:07:54What are we afraid of? Well, there are

2:07:56lots of things. I think both in the case

2:07:59of impotency and fragidity,

2:08:01one of the most significant elements of

2:08:03fear is fear of performance.

2:08:08That's one of the fallout problems of

2:08:12this explosion of sexual literature

2:08:15where now the myth abounds that for

2:08:17somebody to be healthy and normal they

2:08:20have to be capable of super sex both the

2:08:23woman and the man. We have all of these

2:08:26images which are mythological images

2:08:28that Hollywood plays of the super sexual

2:08:32athlete male and the woman who is

2:08:35everybody's mahari. You know, it just

2:08:38isn't true.

2:08:40But you can't tell that to the person

2:08:42when they're entering into this

2:08:43relationship and they feel this pressure

2:08:46to perform.

2:08:50Last year, I saw a list of the 10 most

2:08:53common phobias of American people. Do

2:08:56you know what the number one phobia was

2:08:57in the United States? I don't know where

2:09:00death was. Fear of death came four, four

2:09:03or five, somewhere down the list. I was

2:09:04surprised. You know what the number one

2:09:05phobia was in the United States of

2:09:06America? Fear of standing up in front of

2:09:10a group and speaking.

2:09:13That's what scares more people than

2:09:15anything else. And ladies and gentlemen,

2:09:17I can relate to that.

2:09:20And you all have experienced a situation

2:09:22where somebody gets up to speak and they

2:09:24open their mouth, nothing comes out

2:09:26because they have become paralyzed

2:09:29by their fear. Where I experience fear

2:09:34in speaking is not that I'm going to

2:09:36teach the wrong thing or I'm going to

2:09:39forget my words, but it is the pressure

2:09:43to perform.

2:09:45And you would think the more that you

2:09:46speak, the easier it is to speak. In one

2:09:50sense, yes. But the more that you speak

2:09:52and get a reputation for speaking, the

2:09:54higher the expectation is from the

2:09:56audience. And the higher the expectation

2:09:57is, the more the pressure that's on you,

2:09:59the more the pressure. In fact, I think

2:10:00I'll stop right now and get out of here

2:10:02because I can't stand it. You know, I'm